It is generally known to supply commercial aircraft with conditioned air for heating and cooling. Typically, conditioned air is supplied to the aircraft from a ducting system associated with the telescoping corridor that is a part of the airport terminal. The air is delivered from the telescoping corridor to the aircraft with a flexible and usually insulated air hose. The hose is typically one hundred feet in length or more. However, rarely was it manufactured in one continuous piece. It is most often made in smaller sections, for example 20 feet in length. This makes the pieces less cumbersome to manufacture and ship, and it allows different length hoses to be created on-site depending upon the expected length needed to service a particular aircraft at a particular site. Typically once sections are joined together, they are not separated again until one is damaged, or the requirements at a particular airport gate are changed. Often a hose at a particular gate is assembled to accommodate the longest reach that must be accomplished at that gate. The reach depends upon size of aircraft, parking orientation, and where on the aircraft the air hose connection is located.
The sections of hose are assembled to one another with connection systems such as zippers or Velcro so that air can pass from section to section without leakage. Examples of connection methods are found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,341 to Larson, that discloses a hose assembly for connecting a plurality of vinyl coated hoses with hook and loop tape fasteners. Larson employs hoses having two ends where a first end having either hooks or loops is received by a second end having the counterpart (either hooks or loops). U.S. Pat. No. 6,443,499 to Jenum is another patent regarding joining hose sections together. Instead of the end of one hose inserting into an end of the other, Jenum butts the hose ends together and, wraps the joint with an elongated outer wrap that connects to each of the two ends. In Jenum, both of the hoses may have the same (for example hooks) while the outer wrap has the counterpart (loops). Both joints aim to seal the two hose sections together so air is transported to the aircraft without leakage along the way. There are probably other ways that hose sections have been assembled together, in addition to the two examples mentioned above.
When an aircraft is not in need of the hose, the assembled hose is stored in a bin under the terminal, often with one end connected to the source of pre conditioned air, commonly referred to by its acronym PCA. When an aircraft arrives, a worker pulls the free end of the hose out to the connection point on the aircraft, dragging the hose along the ground extending it to the necessary length, and lifting one end above the ground to the height of the aircraft connection. The pulling on the hose at one end puts the hose under tension along its dragged length. That tension is transmitted from hose section to hose section through the connection that is meant to remain closed and seal the pressurized air in the hose. This puts stress on the connection, and over time the connection may at least partially loosen, allowing air to leak from the hose. The connection may come completely apart, especially in the case of hoses held together by zipper connections.
What is needed is an improved hose having features associated with the connection that prevents the tension in the hose from disrupting the seal at the connection. Preferably the features of the improved hose do not preclude any of the existing or future sealing configurations (for example, Larson or Jenum) from being used where the hoses join together. And, preferably the features may be not only used in a new variety of hose, but may also be used to modify existing varieties of hoses.